Eduard Devrient

Eduard Devrient, (born Aug. 11, 1801, Berlin [Germany]—died Oct. 4, 1877, Karlsruhe, Ger.), actor, director, manager, translator of Shakespeare into German, and author of the first detailed account of the development of the German theatre, Geschichte der deutschen Schauspielkunst (1848; “History of German Dramatic Art”).

Nephew of the great Romantic actor Ludwig Devrient, Eduard began his career as an opera singer and in March 1829 sang the part of Christ in the first revival of J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. Devrient was an actor and a stage director in Dresden from 1844 until 1852, when rivalry with his brother Emil—who was considered the better actor—led him to accept a position as director of the Hoftheater at Karlsruhe, a post he held until 1870.

Reorganizing the Karlsruhe court theatre company, Devrient achieved high standards with a repertory of German classics and Shakespeare. The German renderings of Shakespeare that he made, though bowdlerized, proved more suitable to the stage than any previous translations.